Disbursed along with that for health, education and war veterans' affairs, the annual budget for information and culture constitutes less than 0.2 per cent of the overall state budget, although each year additional project funding is also forthcoming from overseas, notably in the form of UNESCO project grants and ODA from governments such as Việt Nam and Japan.

In December of each year a meeting of senior officials and directors of provincial Services of Information and Culture is convened at the Ministry of Information and Culture to review the implementation of policies during the current financial year and discuss plans for the next. Every five years this meeting draws up a new five-year plan for the development of information and culture; however, this five-year plan is intended only for general guidance and does not include detailed financial planning.

Budgetary planning for information and culture is thus undertaken on an annual basis. Budgets for the following financial year (which runs from 1 April to 31 March) are prepared by all sections within the fields of information (television, radio, press, publishing, printing and distribution) and culture (fine arts, mass culture, museums and archaeology and the Institutes of Cultural Research and Linguistics) and submitted to the Department of Planning and Budgeting of the Ministry of Information and Culture. The latter then liaises with each section to draw up an overall budget proposal on behalf of the Ministry for submission to the Committee for Planning and Investment (CPI). After the CPI has made its adjustments to take into account the funds available, the final budget is forwarded to the Ministry of Finance and finally to the National Assembly for approval.

The national budget for Information and Culture increased steadily throughout the 1990s, reaching 34.85 billion Kip (US$3.3 million) - comprising 11 billion Kip (US$1.04 million) for the Ministry of Information and Culture and 23.85 billion Kip (US$2.25 million) for provincial Services of Information and Culture - in 2002-3. However in the following year this budget suffered a significant reduction and by the 2004-5 financial year it had diminished further to just 5.8 billion Kip (US$549,000) - made up of just 2 billion Kip (US$189,000) for the Ministry of Information and Culture and 3.8 billion Kip (US$360,000) for provincial Services of Information and Culture.

This dramatic decrease may be accounted for by a number of factors, including the state of the economy, the fact that other infrastructural areas have been accorded priority in recent years, the substantial additional cost of broadcasting television and radio by satellite (see Radio and Television), and perhaps also the perception in the higher echelons of government that, since the information and culture sector has already attracted substantial foreign support for specific projects, it does not require such a high level of core funding.

The effect of this reduction in budget on the information and culture sector has been considerable. By way of example, the Ministry's original 2004-5 budget submission envisaged no fewer than 112 new projects, requiring 25 million Kip of core funding for implementation. With only 2 billion Kip being made available, just 18 of these projects have survived. Consequently public funds are necessarily directed mainly towards the maintenance and development of the existing cultural institutions, with most new projects requiring outside funding for implementation. Two notable exceptions in the 2004-5 financial year were the projects to establish a National University of Arts (see Training) and to build a new reading room for the National Library, both of which were part-funded by the Lao goverment.

Out of the two areas - information and culture - information attracts considerably more funding, and although some areas of culture (such as heritage) have been very successful in attracting foreign support, others, such as the performing arts, have borne the brunt of the budget reduction and are heavily dependent on outside support for development.

The decrease in the provincial budget for information and culture has also proven problematic for those working in the sector. However, in recent years Vientiane Prefecture and richer provinces such as Luang Prabang, Champassak and Savannakhet have successfully exploited other sources of revenue and have therefore received comparatively less funding from the treasury than poorer provinces such as Houaphanh, Phongsali, Saravane and Sekong, whose share of the budget has thereby been maintained at a workable level.